CHENNAI: India's Mars Orbiter programme team has won the 2015 Space Pioneer Award in the science and engineering category from the US based National Space Society (NSS), the society said. In a statement issued in Washington on Monday, the NSS said its 2015 Space Pioneer Award in the science and engineering category has been won by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Mars Orbiter Programme team. "This award will be presented to an ISRO representative during the National Space Society's 2015 International Space Development Conference, the 34th ISDC, to be held in Toronto, Canada," the statement said.
The conference will run from May 20-24. According to the NSS, India's Mars Orbiter launched Nov 5, 2013 that went into Mars orbit Sep 24, 2014 achieved two significant mission firsts in terms of an Indian spacecraft that has gone into orbit around Mars on the very first try and that no other country has ever done this. Secondly, the spacecraft is in an elliptical orbit with a high apoapsis, and has a high resolution camera which is taking full-disk colour imagery of Mars. Very few full disk images have ever been taken in the past, mostly on approach to the planet, as most imaging is done looking straight down in mapping mode. These images will aid planetary scientists. The Mars Orbiter programme team located in Bangalore is headed by Mylswamy Annadurai, the statement said. The NSS is an independent non- profit educational membership organisation dedicated to the creation of a spacefaring civilization.

I have of late been reading up on the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also called by its Sanskrit name Mangalyaan or Mars-craft, and I must say that I'm impressed. This is a great technical achievement by India and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) ought to be congratulated for this excellent accomplishment. Not only is India the first Asian nation to achieve Mars orbit but it is the first country to do so on its first attempt. Not even NASA, the European Space Agency, or the Soviet space agency could do it first go. Congratulations, ISRO! Way to go! :thumb:

Hey @Redhawk how's your research on indo-pak wars going on ??? Have you made any progress !???

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Lots! Found a lot of sources on the 1965 Indo-Pak War. Problem is I'm banned at Pakistan Defence Forum till 14 Apr. 2015 for terrorising the terrorists and I'm blocked from even reading PDF threads and posts using this p.c.'s IP address; so I can't dip into and read the posts that I collected over there on the Pak side of the conflict including articles, books, and Professional-Document-Format files of old publications. So I have to use everything I've collected here on DFI, which is also a great deal. There's been some overlap between DFI and PDF, naturally, but I had a goodly collection of sources on the Pak army and air force in the 1965 Indo-Pak War under my account name on the PDF site.

One thing I can tell you, most of the more strident, extravagant claims for victory on the ground and in the air definitely come from the Pak side of the debate. Many Pakistanis never let the facts get in the way of a good story in revising the history of the 1965 Indo-Pak War so that Pakistan always comes out on top. On the other hand, there are and have been some fairly objective accounts of the war from Pakistani side, but these are in a minority. Minority Reports! An interesting adjunct to the military history of the war is the diplomatic manoeuvres by both India and Pakistan and the part that the U.S., the U.S.S.R., the P.R.C., and the U.K. played in various open and behind-the-scenes manoeuvrings to end the war. The diplomatic toing-and-froing stirred up by the 1965 Indo-Pak War is quite interesting.

Lots! Found a lot of sources. Problem is I'm banned at Pakistan Defence Forum till 14 Apr. 2015 for terrorising the terrorists and I'm blocked from even reading PDF threads and posts using this p.c.'s IP address so I can't dip into and read the posts that I collected over there on the Pak side of the conflict including articles, books, and PDF files of old publications. So I have to use everything I've collected here on DFI.

There has not been very much news out of the Mars Orbiter Mission since the Siding Spring flyby last October. Today I'm excited to show you some previously unreleased images from Mars Orbiter Mission, containing Mars' moons Phobos and Deimos, which were also taken in October. Some of these photos were included in a Lunar and Planetary Science Conference abstract (PDF), which also mentioned that the Mars Colour Camera has returned a total of 250 images as of the time of the abstract submission. I contacted the Mars Colour Camera's head scientist, Ashutosh Arya, for permission to post the images of Mars' moons here, and he kindly shared these versions with me. According to a second abstract submitted to LPSC (PDF), the Mars Colour Camera team does eventually plan to make all images public in a format compatible with NASA's Planetary Data System, although they did not specify a schedule for the data release.

OK, to the pictures. First: Phobos, seen above and then crossing Mars' disk. We have much higher-resolution images of Phobos, of course, but it's so rare to see it in color, to see its rich dark brown against Mars' orange.

And now, here's Deimos from Mars Orbiter Mission. It's okay, I don't blame you if you're underwhelmed by these pictures; it looks like a wad of chewing gum. But stick with me and I'll explain why these pictures are significant. Arya sent me these four pictures:

Mars Orbiter Mission captured these four images of Deimos about 12 seconds apart at 13:06 UT on October 14, 2014. The images have a resolution of about 300 meters per pixel; Deimos is roughly 13 kilometers wide.

ike most solar system moons, Deimos always keeps the same hemisphere facing Mars. It's rare for spacecraft to view the hemisphere that faces away from Mars, but Mars Orbiter Mission's long, elliptical orbit permits it to do that. This image is a composite of four different exposures, stacked and enlarged 400%.

These photos don't look like much, but they are of a face of Deimos that we almost never see: the anti-Mars side, from a perspective just a little below the equator.

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I wish ISRO releases the pics soon! they also took a lot of photos while they were orbiting earth, but released only 2 of them.

payload views the albedo of Mars Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM) payload onboard MOM intends to detect the presence of Methane and measure the column density of the same. One of the secondary objectives of this payload is to measure the reflectance of Martian surface in 1.65 micron. MSM has two channels, Methane and reference to measure the radiance from the surface of Mars. All planets in the Solar system receive Sunâ€™s radiation to varying degrees depending on their distance from the Sun. Observing the surface of the planet depends on how this radiation is reflected back. Reflected solar radiation from Mars is a diagnostic signal of the planet which provides lot of information about the planetâ€™s surface as well as its atmosphere. When we measure the radiance in a specific wavelength of light (in this case, 1.65 micron), then we can generate a reflectance map. The map presented here shows the surface reflectance of Mars as viewed at 1.65 micron from the reference channel of MSM till December 16, 2014. In the map, the blue colour indicates low albedo features and the red shows high albedo features on the Martian surface. The map resolution is 0.5Â°x0.5Â° in Latitude-Longitude. By correcting the data for CO2 absorption, a major part of atmospheric effects is taken care of. This data along with the reflectance measured by Mars Colour Camera will be useful to study the surface properties of Mars. (Image credit: SAC, ISRO)

NEW DELHI: Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), the country's first inter- planetary expedition, is expected to live beyond its shelf life of six months, the government today said as it attributed a 37-kg reserved propellant to the increased life-span. The planned life-span of Mars Orbiter Mission, after its insertion into the Mars orbit on September 24, 2014 is 6 months. "The planned life-span (6 months) of MOM is completing on March 24, 2015. One of the life-limiting parameters of a spacecraft, under nominal orbital conditions, is the availability of propellant to maintain its orbit and orientation. "In case of MOM, a reserve of 37 kg of propellant is available in the satellite. Since the health parameters of all critical systems of the satellite are very satisfactory, it is expected that MOM will outlive its planned life-span of 6 months," Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Department of Space said in a written response to a question Lok Sabha. He added that the increased duration of observation of Mars by five scientific payloads will enhance the planetary science data and enable coverage of Mars in different seasons. Singh said MOM, which was inserted in the orbit of Mars on September 24, 2014, is the first mission to use ship-borne terminals to track the launch vehciles and satellite over the Pacific ocean.MOM Likely to Live Beyond Its 6-Month Lifespan: Government - The New Indian Express

Pital crater is an impact crater located in Ophir Planum region of Mars, which is located in the eastern part of Valles Marineris region. This image is taken by Mars Color Camera (MCC) on 23-04-2015 at a spatial resolution of ~42 m from an altitude of 808 km. Wall of the crater and chain of small impact craters are clearly seen in this image. This crater is having the diameter of ~40 km. Most of craters observed on planetary surfaces are circular in shape. Some of the craters are in elliptical shape. However, this Pital crater is in different shape. This could be due to the eastern extension of regional fracture in the W-E trending fracture zone.

Image of Tyrrhenus Mons in Hesperia Planum region taken by Mars Color Camera (MCC) on 25-02-2015 at a spatial resolution of 166m from an altitude of 3192km. Impression of flow features and NE-SW trending fractures are clearly seen in this image. Impressions of wind streaks can also be seen image. Tyrrhenus Mons is a volcanic mons. NE-SW oriented fractures indicate stresses due to volcanic process in this region. Approximate direction of wind which created the wind streaks is East-West.

Image shows part of Máadim Vallis, taken by Mars color camera (MCC) on 06-05-2015 at a spatial resolution of 31 m from an altitude of 595km. Fluvial channel bifurcated through this region and impact craters are clearly seen in this image.

Image of part of wrinkle ridge located in Thaumasia Planum region was taken by Mars color camera (MCC) on 01-05-2015 at a spatial resolution of 29 m from an altitude of 551 km. Wrinkle ridge passing through this region and impact craters of various dimensions are seen in this image. Wrinkle ridges on planetary surface are formed due to compressional stress regime. Ridge means linear/ curvilinear elongated raised structure.

Image from Mars Colour Camera (MCC), taken on May 09, 2015 at 16:11:23UT at an altitude of 535 km and resolution ~25m. This is the last image taken before going into blackout mode. The image shows the area between Sinai and Lassell craters.

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India’s Mars Orbiter Spacecraft is in its 100th orbit around Mars today (Start : June 22, 2015 End: June 25, 2015). The spacecraft was designed for a mission life of six months in Mars orbit, which was completed on March 24, 2015. With this, the primary objectives of the Mars Orbiter Mission were realised. Mars Orbiter spacecraft has outlived its prime mission life and is healthy and operational. The spacecraft, which had earlier entered the ‘blackout phase’ (due to Mars moving behind the Sun from Earth’s perspective), is gradually coming out of that phase. The spacecraft health data is now being received. The current elliptical orbit of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft has a periareion (nearest point to Mars) of 474 km and an apoareion (farthest point to Mars) of 71, 132 km. The payloads onboard the Spacecraft were last operated in May 2015, and performance of all payloads were satisfactory. Mars Colour Camera (MCC) of the spacecraft had taken 405 frames so far. Operations of all payloads will restart in a few weeks from now.